(Original post by HeyyImRyan)
Evidence from the May elections and opinion polls says otherwise, more and more people want an EU referendum and know that no other party will give them it.

They may have done better than they have done better than they have before in their council elections but they have come nowhere near winning a general election. In London they came fifth just after the BNP whilst the Greens done better than ever by coming third they didn't do so well in Liverpool either. The only mayor election they did marginally well is in Salford again hardly enough to win an election.

Of course Greens don't stand much chance either but they are a slightly ahead of UKIP so by saying they're a party no on takes seriously you're basically saying UKIP are too. It's a vocal minority who feel that strongly on an EU referendum they'll make it their sole reason for voting for a party especially seeing as there are talks of Labour offering it now.

The only place I've seen where there even slightly popular is on here and even so The Conservatives, Labour and the Lib Dems are more popular.

Unfortunately, we'll only see Labour and The Conservatives at the helm for a very long time especially seeing as now the Lib Dems have screwed themselves over. The only chance UKIP have is a possible coalition with the Conservatives but even that's a very long shot and probably have the same chance as the Greens have of building a coalition with Labour.

(Original post by far far away)
So why is there a Green MP and not a UKIP one?

The reason behind that is quite simple. Although UKIP receive an incredibly higher share of the vote, like the Conservatives, they tend to have broader appeal in that their vote is rather spread, whereas the Greens, similar to Labour, have concentrated votes. For the Greens, their votes tend to be quite strongly concentrated in Norwich and Brighton. UKIP are polling brilliantly in many seats, coming second and in many cases enough to keep the Tories from actually winning a seat, however, because their vote is spread, the majoritarian electoral system prevents them winning a seat.

The UKIP vote is about four times that of the Green vote.

(Original post by Bornblue)
Says the UKIP supporter......
How many more MP's do you have than the Greens?
Even Galloway has more seats that your joke of a party.
However you are splitting the Tory vote so good job.

Why do people keep ignoring electoral mechanics when discussing smaller parties? UKIP consistently polls and receives considerably larger shares of the vote than the Greens in ALL elections. UKIP, like the Greens, are disadvantaged by the electoral system, but further weakened by the lack of concentrated votes which the Greens have in the likes of Brighton and Norwich.

(Original post by internetguru)
I only like it because other parties are bail out morons. I would much rather take a real conservative approach and allow them to simply fail. You have two credible options regulation so they cannot fail or allowing them to fail. The current bail out nonsense is the most corrupt and money wasting option available.

You do realise that there was an anti-bail out element to the Conservative Party? Mainly located in the Tory Right interestingly enough. I totally agree that to bail out any business is absolutely wrong, they should be allowed to fail, or if they are economically important, they should be nationalised outright.

(Original post by Carecup)
You've pretty much summed up the only thing that's stopping me from voting green.

The lack of academic credibility?

(Original post by Beebumble)
They may have done better than they have done better than they have before in their council elections but they have come nowhere near winning a general election. In London they came fifth just after the BNP whilst the Greens done better than ever by coming third they didn't do so well in Liverpool either. The only mayor election they did marginally well is in Salford again hardly enough to win an election.

Electoral mechanics, however, broadly, UKIP garner far more support across the board than the Greens experience. UKIP is more Libertarian-Right than the Conservative Party, they are not going to do well in historically left-leaning constituencies.

Of course Greens don't stand much chance either but they are a slightly ahead of UKIP so by saying they're a party no on takes seriously you're basically saying UKIP are too. It's a vocal minority who feel that strongly on an EU referendum they'll make it their sole reason for voting for a party especially seeing as there are talks of Labour offering it now.

How are they ahead? By what measure?

Unfortunately, we'll only see Labour and The Conservatives at the helm for a very long time especially seeing as now the Lib Dems have screwed themselves over. The only chance UKIP have is a possible coalition with the Conservatives but even that's a very long shot and probably have the same chance as the Greens have of building a coalition with Labour

Interestingly enough, however, I bet a significant minority of the Conservative backbenchers would be quite willing to work with UKIP.